Sirach 34

1 Empty and false hopes belong to a man without understanding, and dreams give wings to fools.

2 Whoever pays attention to dreams is like someone grasping a shadow and chasing the wind.

3 A dream vision resembles one thing reflected in another, like the likeness of one face before another.

4 What can be cleansed from an impure thing? What truth can come from a lie?

5 Divinations, omens, and dreams are empty; the heart imagines things like a woman in labor.

6 Unless they are sent from the Most High when he attends to you, do not set your heart on them.

7 Dreams have deceived many, and those who trusted them have fallen.

8 The law is fulfilled without lies, and wisdom brings fulfillment to a faithful mouth.

9 A man who has traveled knows many things, and someone with much experience recounts understanding.

10 Someone without experience knows little, but one who has traveled multiplies shrewdness.

11 When I traveled, I saw many things and understood more than I could express.

12 I often faced danger of death, yet because of these experiences I was rescued.

13 The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live, because their hope rests in the one who saves them.

14 Whoever fears the Lord will fear nothing and will not be terrified, because the Lord is his hope.

15 Blessed is the soul of the one who fears the Lord. To whom does he look, and who is his support?

16 The Lord’s eyes are on those who love him. He is their powerful protection and strong support, shelter from heat, shade from the noonday sun, protection from stumbling, and help when falling.

17 He raises the soul and brightens the eyes; he gives healing, life, and blessing.

18 The offering of someone who sacrifices what was gained through wrongdoing is defective, and the gifts of lawless people are not accepted.

19 The Most High is not pleased with the offerings of the ungodly, and a multitude of sacrifices does not make atonement for sin.

20 Whoever brings a sacrifice from the possessions of the poor is like someone who kills a son before his father’s eyes.

21 Bread is life to the needy poor; whoever deprives them of it is a murderer.

22 Whoever takes away a neighbor’s livelihood kills him, and whoever deprives a worker of wages sheds blood.

23 When one person builds and another tears down, what have they gained except labor?

24 When one person prays and another curses, whose voice will the Master hear?

25 If someone washes after touching a corpse and then touches it again, what did the washing accomplish?

26 So it is with someone who fasts for sins and then goes back and does the same things. Who will hear that person’s prayer, and what did his self-humbling accomplish?